crommelincklars, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Professor Caroline MoraesProfessor of Marketing and Consumer Research Birmingham Business School, Department of Marketing Co-Director, Centre for Responsible Business Billie Eilish is the latest artist to announce that she is taking action on sustainability issues by producing her upcoming album with materials that are environmentally friendly. Her plan is to use recycled or eco-vinyl for vinyl copies, plant-based inks for printing and packaging made entirely from recycled and reusable materials. This is a significant environmental action, a ..read more

Image Credit: Derek Bennett By Professor John BrysonProfessor of Enterprise and Economic Geography, The Department of Strategy and International Business, Birmingham Business School Birmingham City Council (BCC) has found itself in a financial mess. Partly this comes from operational decisions that were made in the past and often by officers rather than elected councillors. One outcome of these decisions has been payouts that BCC needs to make that come to more than £1bn to settle an equal pay claim brought by underpaid workers.   There are many ways of interpreting this legal case a ..read more

By Dr Julie WhitemanDepartment of Marketing, University of Birmingham On 8th March we heard much about ‘inspiring inclusion’ as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. Inspiring inclusion will mean many things to many people, recognising the scope of exclusion that permeates all aspects of our society. By focusing on inclusion, it is hoped we will shine a light on the spectrum of exclusion and intersectional discrimination women face, raising awareness and inspiring ongoing and lasting change. In this vein, I would like to highlight sexist ageism in popular culture. We know that youth ..read more

By Professor Harry FergusonProfessor of Social Work, Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Birmingham Every day in this country social workers perform countless acts that make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people. What they do involves kindness, compassion, courage, resilience, cleverness, wisdom and high levels of knowledge and skill. Social workers routinely meet the very difficult challenge of having to balance empathy and compassion with exercising power and authority to protect the hurt and the vulnerable. While in some situations the harm is so great ..read more

By Dr Sophie King-Hill, Associate Professor in the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham and Tom McNeil, Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands Understanding the perceptions and positionality of the young man and boy in today’s society is an important aspect in violence reduction, tackling misogyny and positively addressing male mental health. Masculinity is evolving and previous assumptions of the man as the strong, emotionless provider are becoming rapidly redundant. Over the past 50 years women’s roles have changed and they have, quite rightly ..read more

Dr Inci Toral Manson, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing – Birmingham Business School and Dr Jean-Paul de Cros Peronard, Associate Professor – Aarhus University As the UK gears up for its upcoming general election, Home Secretary James Cleverly’s warning about the potential misuse of “deepfake” technology requires a broader conversation about the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in general. The adoption of AI by the public and the advancements in the capabilities of AI are bewildering, offering both transformative opportunities and unprecedented challenges. We use sensemaking to ..read more

By Professor Finola KerriganProfessor in Marketing, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham The 2024 Academy Awards’ Ceremony will take place on Sunday. It comes just after 2024’s International Women’s Day and during Women’s History Month. Much has been made of Ryan Gosling’s best supporting actor nomination for his role as Ken in Barbie with Margot Robbie overlooked for a best actress nomination for portraying Barbie herself. As gender politics was at the heart of the film, with Barbieland flipping around the usual male dominated social norms and seeing women in power, this was ..read more

Image credit: Easy-Peasy.AI  By Dr Laura Salciuviene, Assistant Professor in Strategy and International Business In today’s interconnected business world, educators face a hidden challenge: cultural differences. While cultural differences enrich learning experience, they also present a challenge required to know how to navigate cultural differences among international students. From diverse learning styles to clashing student ethical standards, diverse student backgrounds can contradict traditional teaching methods used in business education. Those challenges negatively influence educator ..read more

By Professor Sarah MontanoProfessor of Retail Marketing, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Valentine’s Day is the day where it is traditional to express your love for your partner via the medium of retail! Are you expecting flowers, a card or a cute bear? However you celebrate with your loved one, there is now an expectation that as consumers we celebrate love by the exchange of gifts. Why is Valentine’s Day important to the retail sector and what does it say about us as consumers that we engage in such a practice? Whilst Valent ..read more

Image credit: William Murphy By Professor Joanne Murphy, Department of Management, Birmingham Business School  So, Rishi Sunak and Leo Varadkar met in Belfast this week to herald another new start to the devolved Northern Ireland institutions. Good news, of course. Anything that brings closure to post Brexit volatility must be positive. Both governments, as guarantors of the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement of April 10th, 1998, have a responsibility to act together to protect the hard-won peace. The institutions which were re-established last weekend are an integral part of the outworking ..read more